How Amanpour and CNN lost to Mugabe- By Rashweat Mukundu

Mugabe stuck to his well known script, Amanpour and CNN fumbled all over. Thus after the highly expected interview of Mugabe by senior CNN Journalist, Christiane Amanpour, on Thursday 24 September, it came out, in my view, to a victory for Mugabe, if we take it as a contest. Amanpour failed to rise above the familiar frames of the western media’s analysis of Zimbabwe, dictatorship, hunger, land, and white farmers. These are part of the issues, but more of symptoms of a deeper problem which we hoped CNN would probe. We expected Amanpour to bring these issues to the interview but in a way that makes it impossible for Mugabe to waive them away so simply. We expected more facts, events and names. And they are many that Mugabe cannot run away from.

Yes, the Zimbabwe crisis is also about land among many other things, but this is more a symptom of a deficiency in democracy that Mugabe demonstrated very early in his rule. It is this failure to understand history and looking at Zimbabwe in compartments that has been the failure of the western media for so long and indeed the Achilles heel of Amanpour when she met Mugabe. Amanpour stated clearly that her Rhodesian journalists’ friends really enjoyed the first ten years of Mugabe’s rule. In those ten years Mugabe presided over the massacre of thousands of Ndebele’s who happened to support an opposition party and belong to an ethnic group other than his. It is therefore wrong for CNN to say Zimbabwe’s crisis is a year 2000 phenomenon and only so because Mugabe started grabbing farms from white farmers. Amanpour thus sunk into a familiar tune that Mugabe was well prepared for, giving a full lecture of history which Amanpour was, again, unprepared for. Statistics is there all over the internet on how Mugabe’s government abused donor funds and some resettled farmers sank more into poverty. Mugabe’s views were never seriously challenged.

In any case lets us talk of the crisis in Zimbabwe since 2000. The most affected and those who have suffered the most are the majority of poor Zimbabweans. If there are a people that Mugabe has failed the most and dehumanised the most it is his fellow black Zimbabweans. Any questioning and framing of the Zimbabwe crisis should, as a consequence, start from this stand point. Mugabe should have been asked about the many MDC supporters who were murdered, again their names are there, about Jestina Mukoko and others who were kidnapped in December 2008. Those who did this are still free, and Zimbabwe courts have been clear that this was wrong. Hundreds of cases of MDC supporters who lost their lives are recorded and should have been brought to Mugabe by CNN. Their killers are walking scot free and many are known by name. This should have been brought to Mugabe. The Daily News was bombed 3 times, 60 000 copies of the Zimbabwean newspapers were burnt in 2008, four newspaper were shut by decree and remain closed while Mugabe’s government is launching one daily paper after another, while denying others that space. These are double standards that should have been brought to Mugabe as undermining the unity government. There were many scenes of violence that were captured by the media in the 2008’s controversial June Presidential by-election that Amanpour should have pinned Mugabe on.

Mugabe is a dictator yes, but one who has created a very sophisticated dictatorship that is not only about power grabbing but distorts and deploys historical narratives for its benefit. It’s a dictatorship that sinisterly divides society along race, ethnicity and ideology. If the western media intends to report Zimbabwe they should not engage Mugabe in a turf of contested history but talk of the practicalities and realities of life in Zimbabwe, that story Mugabe cannot dismiss that easily. It is for this reason that the western media has to change its frames of analysing Zimbabwe and Mugabe, and see the majority of victims of Mugabe’s government not only a statistics but the real victims of this crisis. The violence on ordinary Zimbabweans is not a land issue, but has always existed well before 2000. A proper analysis needs to go beyond land reform, to look at what Mugabe has done to his own people, the cases of corruption that should have been brought out, the collapse of Kondozi farm, a classical case of the phoney arguments by Mugabe that land reform is about equality and prosperity, the diamonds fiasco in Manicaland.

A well respected journalist like Amanpour was expected to go deeper, bring out examples, the horror and scenes that Mugabe cannot deny. She should have avoided narratives of history that are not in dispute but give it to Mugabe in black and white from the perspectives of the majority of Zimbabweans. The interview turned to be a successful Public Relations exercise and godsend for Mugabe. This is because we have heard it all before and Mugabe reinforced his message at a world stage. But the real story of Zimbabwe’s majority rarely finds space and it is one that Mugabe cannot deny nor justify by whatever means or explanation. He can easily explain the land reform on the basis of history, but he cannot explain the kidnapping of Mukoko, the bombing of the Daily News among other many things. The international media will become relevant when it sees the Zimbabwe crisis from this holistic perspective. As for Amanpour we hope she can be better prepared next time.//End//

_______________________________________________

Rashweat Mukundu

Programmes Manager

Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat

Private Bag 13386

21 Johann Albrecht Street

Windhoek

Tel: +264 61 232975

Mobile: + 264 81 367 5362

www.misa.org

Amnesty International Leader Heads for High Level Mission to Zimbabwe

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
DIARY NOTE

Amnesty International Secretary General to visit Zimbabwe
From 13 to 18 June 2009, Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan
will lead a high level mission to Zimbabwe, during which she plans to meet
human rights activists, victims of human rights violations and senior
government officials, including President Robert Mugabe.
The mission will conclude with a press conference in Harare on 18 June,
during which she will present preliminary findings from the mission, and be
available to answer questions and conduct individual interviews.

All media are welcome to attend.
Refreshments will be served.
Details:
Who:
Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan
What:
Press conference on findings of mission to Zimbabwe
When:
10.00 am local time (08.00 GMT), Thursday, 18 June 2009
Where:
Mirabelle Drawing Room (Ground Floor), Meikles Hotel, Jason
Moyo Avenue, Harare
On 19 June, Secretary General Irene Khan will be available for interviews
from London, including in-studio appearances, to discuss the findings of the
mission and the results of her meetings with government officials.
For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact Amnesty
International's Africa Press Officer, Eliane Drakopoulos, on Zimbabwe
mobile: 023 842 322 or UK +44 7778 472 109. For London interviews, please
call Judit Arenas on mobile: +44 7778 472 188.
ENDS/
Working to protect human rights worldwide

Makoni, Mandaza do battle over funds

HARARE (Financial Gazette) - A bruising fight between presidential hopeful in the March 2008 elections, Simba Makoni, and academic, Ibbo Mandaza, for the control of Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) has sucked in the Swedish government after it emerged that the Swedes funded the project to the tune of over US$25,000 in a bid to unseat President Robert Mugabe.

The latest revelations could spark a diplomatic furor between Harare and Stockholm at a time Zimbabwe is re-engaging the international community to get its economy back on track. The law only allows political parties to get funding through Parliament and not from foreign donors to avoid interference in the country’s domestic affairs.
Mandaza, the project’s national coordinator, and Makoni crossed swords last year over the allocation of resources and the alleged failure by the former finance minister to transform MKD into a fully-fledged political party.

MKD’s provincial executives then passed a vote of no confidence in Makoni, demoting him to an ordinary card-carrying member while instituting investigations into how resources donated to the movement were used. Issues came to a head when Makoni allegedly took away all printing business from Mandaza’s company, SAPPHO, and awarded the contract to ART Corporation. Sensing this was going have an immediate financial impact on his printing business, Mandaza wrote to Makoni on October 30 2008 urging him to come clean on the donations he may have received as the movement’s presidential candidate.

Mandaza tried to play down the Swedish Embassy’s role in capacitating MKD saying the money from the Swedes came through a contract between his company, Southern African Political Economic Series (SAPES), and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
This was after Makoni had reportedly queried and threatened to fire Mandaza over SIDA’s donation, prompting the latter to engage AMG Global Chartered Accountants to draw up an income and expenditure statement which exonerated Mandaza from any wrongdoing.
“Notwithstanding what you have been told by our mutual friend at the Embassy, please note that the Agreement is between SIDA and SAPES Trust; and obviously, it is was an arrangement that took into account during that period, the fact that Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn was being run from SAPES premises at 26 Deary Avenue, Belgravia.

The Financial Gazette discovered that the mutual friend being referred to was Sweden’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Sten Rylander.
Documents seen by this newspaper show that SAPES Trust contributed immensely to the birth of the MKD, providing offices and secretarial services from January 3 2008 to mid-April 2008, attending to the movement’s concerns, printing posters and fliers among other duties to the tune of US$30 096.50
In the documents, Mandaza said: “Of great significance here is the fact that all the US$25,385 was spent on work directly related to Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn, against a budget provided to SIDA on 6 March 2008. In fact, such expenditure exceeded the budget by US$14,364.43 including the US$9,996, an amount MKD refused to pay SAPPHO Printing for the pre-printing work for the job subsequently completed at ART Corporation.

“Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn might have had enormous logistical problems were it not for the support rendered by the SAPES Trust, a task no doubt greatly facilitated and aided by the SIDA contribution. This was a period during which most estate agents and even hotels and public places were afraid to be associated with the movement that was challenging Zanu-PF. In the final analysis, only SAPES Trust and Rainbow Tourism Group provided space for meetings and those press briefings by Simba Makoni. Likewise, SIDA was one of the very few international organisations and the Swedish Embassy in Harare that gave Mavambo/ Kusile/Dawn both moral and material support.”
SAPES is said to have contributed at least US$30 096.50 plus US$12 364 which was said to be a deficit for the printing costs at SAPPHO.
Contacted for comment, Rylander said he had nothing to do with the issue, but pressed further, he opened up a little.
Although he denied having direct links with the MKD, he agreed supporting SAPES.
“There are no direct links with the Mavambo project. There was cooperation between us and SAPES and we don’t have any complaints in the manner in which they have handled our funding. We can’t be seen as an embassy to support political movements,” he said.

Mandaza could not be reached for comment.
However, Makoni referred all questions to the movement’s head of communications Godfrey Chanetsa who is aligned to him.
Chanetsa said: “Makoni has referred you to me because he probably doesn’t have a comment at the moment. I am aware of the intense debate over that subject between those mentioned in the documents you may have, but this is costing us as a movement.
“My function was to help campaign and as for the resources, Makoni and Mandaza should know where they got them, but I am sure they were legitimate and we complied with the country’s laws. Major political parties supposedly get funding from Parliament and that’s the law. This whole thing is costing us. I don’t think that we agreed that after the presidential election we waste a lot of time and energy throwing dirty linen in public.”

His Excellency, Mr Moonlighter

Mail & Guardian

Zimbabwean diplomats are resorting to moonlighting to avoid debt collectors as the lack of foreign currency caused by the country's economic crisis has left its representatives abroad unable to pay their bills. This month a diplomat based in Austria committed suicide, reportedly in a state of depression after receiving an eviction notice. She was buried in Harare after friends and relatives chipped in to pay for transporting her body home.Stories abound of diplomats who are surviving on foreign currency sent by the extended families back in Zimbabwe and on hand-outs from friends. Many are deep in debt after resorting to overdrafts for their everyday needs.

Zimbabwe has 38 diplomatic missions and three consulates across the world. The biggest missions are in New York and Geneva, because of the United Nations. Ambassadors are paid between US$11 000 and US$13 000 a month, depending on political seniority.Foreign currency applications lodged with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe by embassies abroad have not been adequately met. In February the New York mission received US$100 000 when its arrears and other monthly obligations totalled US$1-million.Sources say that Zimbabwe's diplomats and foreign affairs staff posted overseas have not been paid for the last five to seven months. This means that they have been unable to meet most of their obligations, such as paying for rented accommodation, heating, medication and school fees. Locally recruited staff are owed salary arrears of between three and five months, including bonuses.In certain countries where it is legal, spouses resorted to seeking employment to support their families. Sources said some desperate diplomats had resorted to moonlighting to survive. Another diplomat who refused to be identified said: "Under these difficulties we still have to defend our country in international forums and in countries where we have been posted."

In Sweden officers evicted from their homes after failing to pay rent because their salaries weren't paid are staying at the ambassador's residence. Sources said in Australia a senior officer was also staying at the embassy.In India, Iran and Austria landlords for the chancelleries and residences have approached their ministries of foreign affairs to lodge complaints about the failure to pay by Zimbabwean missions. A diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity said: "Because of the humanitarian situation at home we are no longer a priority."

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-02-23-his-excellency-mr-moonlighter

ZESN Wins French Human Rights Award

1 December 2008)-

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), a network of30 non-governmental organisations was on Friday 28 November 2008 conferred the 2008 French Republic’s Human Rights Award in recognition of the organisation’s work in 2008. The French award distinguishes field work and projects connected with the practical defence and promotion of human rights, in the furtherance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
His Excellency Mr Laurent Contini Ambassador of France to Zimbabwe presented the award to ZESN. Mr Contini commended and gave special remarks to the work that ZESN accomplished in 2008. “……this is the achievement of the civil society in Zimbabwe which must be saluted as a whole in promoting the defense of basic freedoms, freedom of association, freedom of expression, freedom of press….”, said Mr Contini. He also informed the gathering that in 2008, the five main awards have been attributed to NGOs from Liban, Maroc, Ouzbekista, Somalia and Tunisia. ZESN was among the “special distinctions” rewards which also went to other NGOs from Mexico, Peru and Togo.
Mr Contini also paid particular tribute to the Director of ZESN, Mrs Rindai Chifunde- Vava for the sterling work done in 2008.
In her acceptance speech, Mrs Vava, thanked the French Embassy for the recognition. She reminded colleagues from CSOs that were present as well as members of the Diplomatic Corps that the award was for the brave ZESN members and observers. She also gave particular accolade to all ZESN observers who were harassed, tortured, assaulted and the ZESN long time serving observer Elliot Machipisa who was brutally murdered just before the run-off for observing the 29 March harmonized elections.
She also alluded to the political situation currently distressing the country emphasizing on the urgent need for a solution on the political impasse. “ZESN believes in democratically elected leaders, but the current political environment is not conducive for the holding of free and fair elections”, she reiterated. She added that ZESN currently is in the process of advocating for electoral reforms before any election takes place in Zimbabwe. “Zimbabwe needs an independent electoral management body, a level electoral playing field, freedoms of association, expression and movement to be recognized and enjoyed by all citizens”, said Mrs Vava.
In her concluding remarks, she said, the award was going to give ZESN more strength and encouragement to endeavor in promoting a Zimbabwe where democratic rights and fundamental freedoms are upheld and enjoyed.

http://www.mediainzimbabwe.com/?p=903

Obama Lesson For Mugabe, Kibaki

Written by Change Zimbabwe Correspondent
Wednesday, 05 November 2008

While congratulating Barrack Obama on his election, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) noted how his opponent's acceptance of defeat contrasts with the reluctance of Robert Mugabe and Mwai Kibaki to bow to the will of the people of Zimbabwe and Kenya when they were defeated.
A partner of the South African ruling party, Cosatu also expressed fear that if Obama implements his campaign pledges to protect American jobs and oppose the outsourcing of investment and jobs to developing countries, he will take a more protectionist line and try to block further progress in the World Trade Organisation’s Doha developmental round of negotiations, with catastrophic consequences for developing countries
Cosatu also appalled to him to lift the economic blockade on Cuba and to stop trying to impose an economic system which the Cuban people have consistently rejected – extend democracy to the people of Cuba as well.
“Cosatu has also noted the generous way in which John McCain accepted his defeat, and contrasts this with the reluctance of Robert Mugabe and Mwai Kibaki to bow to the will of the people of Zimbabwe and Kenya when they were defeated,” stated statements.
And the trade union also took aim at those who are formenting for an ANC split, saying McCain’s 45% vote was also more than the 40% vote for those defeated at the Polokwane ANC Conference. “While he graciously accepted defeat, some of those who lost there are hell-bent on forming a breakaway party with the sole aim of disrupting and dividing the liberation movement.
“It is time to follow McCain’s example and accept that there are winners and losers in every election, but the result is the will of the people and has to be accepted.”

http://changezimbabwe.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1736&Itemid=2

DRC Rebels Claim Zimbabwe Army Fighting in Eastern Congo

The New Times (Kigali)NEWS
3 November 2008

By James Karuhanga
Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe has sent in military support to the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to back Joseph Kabila's struggling FARDC forces against the rebel group National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP).
In an exclusive telephone interview with The New Times, Rene Abandi, CNDP Foreign Affairs Commissioner, made these revelations: "Zimbabweans and the FDLR are the ones that fight, government forces simply run away and we remain fighting. We have given this evidence to MONUC and they acknowledge this."

"Apart from Zimbabwe, Kabila wants to bring in SADC and as you've heard, the French also want to come in, their Foreign Minister has been lobbying for a French dominated EU humanitarian mission of about 1,500 soldiers," added Abandi.
"Their role is real," he said, declaring that they had evidence of - Zimbabwe ammunition - from the battle field.
If this is proved true, then Zimbabwe becomes complicit in the rampant looting, rape and killing taking place in the Eastern DR Congo. Commenting on the atrocities committed last week Abandi said : "They raped women, looted and maimed families on that night."
He also claimed that these brutal atrocities in Goma town were designed by the DR Congo government troops in a bid to put blame on the advancing rebel army (CNDP).
http://allafrica.com/stories/200811030880.html

Aid Group Says Zimbabwe Misused $7.3 Million

November 3, 2008
By CELIA W. DUGGER

JOHANNESBURG — The government of Zimbabwe, led by President Robert Mugabe, spent $7.3 million donated by an international organization to fight killer diseases on other things and has failed to honor requests to return the money, according to the organization’s inspector general.
The actions by Zimbabwe have deprived the organization, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, of resources it needs and damaged efforts to expand life-saving treatment, said the inspector general, John Parsons. Zimbabwe’s actions also jeopardize a more ambitious $188 million Global Fund grant to Zimbabwe, due for consideration by the fund’s board on Friday, Mr. Parsons said.
The Global Fund has continued to demand that Zimbabwe return the money, and Global Fund officials say Zimbabwean financial officials have promised to do so by Thursday. But Mr. Parsons said Zimbabwean officials also said they had not repaid the money because they did not have enough foreign currency.
The breakdown of trust between the Global Fund and Zimbabwe’s government comes at a time of widening humanitarian crisis and casts further doubt on the willingness of Western donors to invest heavily in rebuilding the economically broken nation as long as Mr. Mugabe is in charge, even if a deadlock over a power-sharing government is resolved.
Mr. Parsons said in an interview on Sunday that last year the Global Fund deposited $12.3 million in foreign currency into Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank. He declined to speculate on how the $7.3 million it was seeking to be returned had been spent, except to say it was not on the intended purpose. Civic groups and opposition officials maintain that the Reserve Bank helps finance Mr. Mugabe’s patronage machine.
Mr. Parsons did offer an example of the human consequences of the Reserve Bank’s failure to hand over the money for disease fighting. The Global Fund has brought in large quantities of medicines that can cure malaria but has been able to finance the training of only 495 people to distribute them safely instead of the planned 27,000. There were 2.7 million cases of malaria among Zimbabwe’s 12 million people in the World Health Organization’s most recent estimates.
“The drugs expire by the middle of next year, and it would be criminal if we can’t use them because of these problems,” Mr. Parsons said. “They’ve got quite a short shelf life.”
Zimbabwe’s information minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, said Sunday in an interview that he was not aware of the particulars of the disagreement, but he defended what he described as the Reserve Bank’s good intentions and accused the Global Fund of politicizing aid.
“They always want to put certain standards and concoct certain things to make us look bad and horrendous in international eyes,” he said.
Gideon Gono, governor of the Reserve Bank, the custodian of the Global Fund’s money, has been spending large sums this year on a variety of things, according to reports in Zimbabwe’s state-owned media.
Mr. Gono gave the country’s judges new vehicles, satellite dishes and televisions and allocated 79 vehicles for the Information Ministry. He announced the provision of 3,000 tractors, 105 combine harvesters and 100,000 plows for the country’s farm mechanization program. Mr. Ndlovu, the information minister, said the Reserve Bank had been getting foreign currency for imports of food and medicine.
Mr. Ndlovu said the Global Fund had sided with Western nations that had restricted aid to Zimbabwe and imposed sanctions on it — sanctions that Mr. Mugabe and his party blame for the country’s economic ruin.
“The money from the Global Fund is nowhere near what the Reserve Bank has spent on health care for the country,” the information minister said.
Civic groups and opposition officials contend that Mr. Gono and the Reserve Bank have helped finance the governing party’s patronage operation, essential to Mr. Mugabe’s hold on power for the past 28 years. Eddie Cross, a senior official in the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, accused the Reserve Bank of looting the Global Fund’s donation.
International aid groups and United Nations agencies say the country’s annual inflation rate of more than 230 million percent and rules imposed by the Reserve Bank have severely complicated the logistics of helping the most impoverished people.
The Reserve Bank suspended electronic banking a month ago, making it impossible for international organizations to pay for goods and services with bank transfers. The Reserve Bank has also severely limited cash withdrawals from commercial banks. And the inflation rate has rendered check payments nearly worthless by the time they clear days later.
More than 20 aid groups, donor countries and United Nations agencies wrote Mr. Gono last week asking that electronic banking be restored for humanitarian aid purposes and that they be allowed to pay service providers in foreign currency. If agencies are increasingly unable to pay for their field operations, they wrote, that inability will “greatly increase the already substantial suffering of those Zimbabweans who are most in need of humanitarian response.”
A third of Zimbabweans are now hungry and in need of food aid, the United Nations estimates. A million children have lost one or both parents. About 140,000 people died of AIDS there last year.
Mr. Mugabe’s government banned the work of international aid groups for almost three months during the election season earlier this year, accusing them of backing the political opposition. The ban was lifted on Aug. 29, two months after Mr. Mugabe was declared the victor in a discredited presidential runoff election. His main rival, the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, dropped out of the race, citing state-sponsored violence against his supporters.
It has taken time for the aid groups to resume work. One major humanitarian group, which declined to be identified by name for fear of retaliation against its staff by government officials, said it would be able to get food to only half as many people as originally planned this month because of the difficulties of paying for its logistical operations.
The Zimbabwe office of the United Nations Children’s Fund, which coordinates one of the world’s largest programs for orphans, decided Friday that it could no longer pay the local groups it supported there by check, seriously hampering its ability to help the most vulnerable children and their mothers, said Roeland Monasch, Unicef’s acting representative in Zimbabwe.
Mr. Monasch said the United Nations’ daily posting of the country’s exchange rate showed that the number of Zimbabwe dollars required to buy a single American dollar rose from 3 million on Oct. 23 to 1 billion the next day, and then to 40 billion on Wednesday and 1.1 trillion on Saturday. For Unicef to continue operating, he said, it must start using American dollars.
Mr. Parsons, the Global Fund inspector general, who presented the preliminary findings of a Global Fund audit on Tuesday in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, to donor nations and United Nations agencies, said in the interview that he had met with Reserve Bank officials to tell them, “We need our money back.”
But Reserve Bank officials have told the Global Fund they do not have the foreign currency required, Mr. Parsons said, so, “One has to assume they spent it on other things.”
In Mr. Parsons’ presentation to donors, a slide on program management featured a Cameroonian saying: “Trust in Allah but tie your donkey.” The Global Fund’s management, known as the secretariat, has not released any new money to Zimbabwe since last December and will not disburse more until the problems in protecting the Global Fund’s donations are resolved, he said.
“We cannot safely leave foreign exchange in Zimbabwe,” Mr. Parsons said. “The secretariat has to find some other means to safeguard our funds — to keep it offshore and drip-feed it into Zimbabwe. It can’t be under the Reserve Bank or anyone influenced by the Reserve Bank.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/world/africa/03zimbabwe.html

Tsvangirai calls for Zimbabwe truth commission

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (AFP) —

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called Saturday for a truth commission to examine atrocities in the country dating back to the massacres of ethnic minorities in the 1980s.

"This country has gone through a lot of traumatic experiences," Tsvangirai said at the launch of a video on the 1980s atrocities.

"What we have to accept is that in order to heal there must be justice, and in order to have justice there must be truth," Tsvangirai said.

"That is the only way which can help us move forward as a nation. Unless the truth is told, there cannot be healing and reconciliation," he said.

"There are those who are calling for a truth commission. They are right, but without justice we cannot move forward," he added.

The video documents the Zimbabwean army's bloody campaign known as Gukurahundi -- "the rain that washes away the chaff" -- when a North Korean-trained brigade is believed to have killed some 20,000 people in a counter-insurgency drive.

Tsvangirai linked the massacres of the 1980s to an operation three years ago when President Robert Mugabe's government bulldozed the homes of 700,000 people in what was officially called a slum renewal project.

"The common thing is we have a leader and a government whose main pre-occupation is power-retention," he added.

"We created that government and the leader, and the question is how to deal with such experiences because that is human terror of unprecedented proportions."

Tsvangirai and Mugabe, who has ruled since independence in 1980, have been negotiating for weeks over a power-sharing deal following deadly electoral violence earlier this year.

The talks are stalled over control of the home affairs ministry, which oversees the police.

Local resident works on development projects in Zimbabwe

Sarath Peiris

The StarPhoenix

Friday, October 31, 2008

As someone who follows global events with more than a passing interest and as an editorial writer who occasionally pontificates on things international, I've been frustrated at the world's reluctance to intercede while Robert Mugabe and his thugs devastate Zimbabwe.

Although the horrors taking place in a beautiful land that once held such promise to be the role model for development in Africa seem far removed from Saskatoon, Sylvia Cholodnuik is determined that the plight of the Zimbabweans will not go unaddressed or be ignored.

Since she first visited rural Zimbabwe 15 years ago on a trip through Canadian Crossroads International, she's returned 10 times, acting as a one-woman development organization to work on small, useful projects in Tshelanyemba, a town south of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city.

She found things were really tough when she went there two years ago, but after her latest visit in May, she says 2006 "seems like a gravy train."

Zimbabwe's economy was effectively non-functional, with inflation that reached 230 million per cent in July. The store shelves were bare, health care non-existent and the electricity hadn't come on for weeks. Bread has become a luxury item people cannot afford. While things are a little better in rural areas where people eke out a living from the land, urban residents are hopeless, hungry and desperate.

She first got involved with the people in Tshelanyemba in 1992 to set up a canteen and a bakery in the vocational training centre, which are still in operation.

Cholodnuik, who has worked for the past 14 years in student housing at the University of Saskatchewan and spends her vacation time on these development projects, isn't a registered charity and isn't affiliated with any religious group. However, her projects since 1992 have built school desks and a playroom in Tshelanyemba, installed showers and toilets for the hospital kitchen, replaced water tanks at the hospital, developed a school market garden and helped provide school supplies for primary schools in two other villages, Mazwi and Sun Yet Sen.

She returned from her trip this summer determined to send a shipping container of hospital equipment, medical supplies and school supplies to Tshelanyemba. She's working with Canadian Food for the Hungry International, an agency in Saskatoon that has the expertise in logistics to arrange the container shipment and to find and refurbish the hospital equipment to be sent to Zimbabwe. She's also working with students at Cardinal Leger, College Park and Lakeview elementary schools and Bethlehem High School to collect the needed school supplies.

Cholodnuik estimates it will cost $3,500 or so for the container, with another $15,000 to $16,000 US to ship it to Zimbabwe. She wants to ship the container by January and expects to be on hand in Tshelanyemba when it gets there in early May.

Various fundraising efforts so far have brought in about $8,000, but she hopes to raise the majority of the money at this Sunday night's special event, An Evening To Zimbabwe With Love, to be held from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Quance Theatre in the Education building on campus.

The doors open at 6:30 p.m. so you can grab a good seat to catch the lineup that features Eileen Laverty, Brenda Baker, Ricasso, Sheldon Corbett, Brent Taylor, Come Full Circle and the Saskatoon Soaps. There's also a silent auction. Tickets for the event are $25 and can be bought in advance at Carriage House Florists, Caffe Sola and the Residence office on campus, or at the door on Sunday night. She's hoping to sell about 230 tickets.

If you have a few hours and $25 to spare on Sunday night, this is a great cause to support. More information on the container project can be found at www.tshelanyemba.net.

MDC seeks new Zimbabwe election

BBC News

Zimbabwe's main opposition party has called for new elections, if power-sharing talks remain deadlocked.
New polls are the "only way forward", Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa told the BBC.
Neighbouring Botswana has also called for new elections, after a regional summit on Zimbabwe was postponed.
The MDC and the ruling Zanu-PF agreed to share power last month but they cannot agree on the details. A BBC reporter says there is a lack of trust.
The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Johannesburg says the atmosphere between the two parties is absolutely toxic.
A summit in Swaziland to discuss the deadlocked power-sharing agreement was postponed for a week after the MDC insisted that its leader Morgan Tsvangirai be granted a passport.
He even refused an offer to travel in Swazi King Mswati's private jet.
The Zimbabwe authorities gave him an emergency travel document - which the MDC said was an "insult".
'Breaking-point'
But chief Zanu-PF negotiator Patrick Chinamasa blamed Mr Tsvangirai for the delay.
"Tsvangirai's failure to come to Swaziland seems to us to reflect his own reluctance or hesitancy to finalise and conclude discussions on the formation of an inclusive government," he told the state-owned Herald newspaper.
The Zimbabwean leadership seems to have failed to honour the agreement
Phando SkelemaniBotswana's foreign minister

Mr Chamisa said the talks were in a "very precarious position".
"People are suffering. The humanitarian situation... is dire. We need to respond to these challenges but we can't if we are locked up in endless negotiations," he told the BBC.
The power-sharing deal was supposed to resurrect the collapsing economy.
Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation rate - 231,000,000% - and donors say half the population will soon need food aid.

"We need to go to elections, if this dialogue process fails," Mr Chamisa said.
Mr Tsvangirai has agreed to become prime minister, working with President Robert Mugabe but the two men cannot agree on the division of cabinet posts.
Mr Mugabe has allocated the key posts to his Zanu-PF party, prompting Mr Tsvangirai to threaten to pull out of the deal.
Talks will now resume in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, on 27 October, according to a statement from the regional Southern African Development Community (Sadc), which oversaw the power-sharing deal.

But Botswana adopted a different line and called for new elections.
"The Zimbabwean leadership seems to have failed to honour the agreement," Foreign Minister Phando Skelemani told the BBC.

The BBC's Africa analyst Martin Plaut says the statement carries an air of desperation. Given the bloodshed during the last presidential election it is hard to see how this could be undertaken without foreign troops or a terrible loss of life, he says.
President Mugabe has allocated the main ministries, including defence, home, foreign affairs, and justice to Zanu-PF.
As well as finance, the MDC also insisted it should have home affairs - and control of the police - if Zanu-PF had defence.
The MDC accused the security services of taking part in violent attacks on its supporters before June's presidential run-off election.
Reports on Friday suggested that Mr Mugabe might have agreed to let the MDC take the key post of finance minister, but that he would not give it home affairs.
Finance is one of the most crucial posts, as Zimbabweans hope the power-sharing deal will lead to action to tackle the economic crisis.
Donors have promised to help finance a recovery plan but they are unlikely to release funds if a Zanu-PF minister is in charge.
Some two million people need food aid and non-governmental agencies warn that figure could double within the next few months.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7681468.stm

Zim to get US$500m from Global Fund

Herald Reporter

THE Global Fund has approved and recommended that Zimbabwe be given US$500 million to fight HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.

The Fund’s Technical Review Panel, a grouping of health experts who scrutinise country proposals and submit recommendations to the board for endorsement, approved Zimbabwe’s application.

Once the panel approves an application, it becomes a foregone conclusion that the board would endorse it.

Zimbabwe’s previous applications, save for round one and round five, failed at the panel stage.

Chairperson of Zimbabwe’s Country Co-ordinating Mechanism and Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa, confirmed that the fund’s panel had approved the country’s request.

He was hopeful the fund’s board, which is expected to meet on November 7, would endorse the panel’s decision.

"We are very pleased that the TRP has approved our application because funding for Zimbabwe was long overdue considering that we did not get anything from the previous two consecutive rounds, yet our neighbouring countries got funding many times compared to us.

"The country has also posted many achievements, especially in the area of HIV and Aids where we have recorded a downward trend in the HIV prevalence rate," Dr Parirenyatwa said.

http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=639&cat=1

Talks now postponed for one week

MBABANE – (AFP) The controversial talks on power-sharing in Zimbabwe have been postponed by a week and moved back to Harare, an official said Monday after MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai refused to attend a summit of southern African heads.
“Tsvangirai was supposed to attend, but due to technical problems, which have occurred from his side, he was not able to come. That’s why the meeting is taking place in Harare,” Swazi King Mswati III told journalists.
Tsvangirai had been due to meet in Swaziland ’s capital Mbabane with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) rival Arthur Mutambara and four regional heads of state to break a five-week deadlock over forming a unity government.
But Tsvangirai’s MDC faction said Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister-designate had only received emergency travel papers late Sunday, calling the delay an “insult” to the man meant to assume such high office under the unity accord.
SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao said, reading from a statement, a meeting would be held in Harare on October 27 to “review the progress on the implementation of the September 15 agreement.”
The conflict over Tsvangirai’s travel documents was the latest twist in the five-week battle over the unity accord.
Talks broke down over who should control powerful ministries - particularly Home Affairs, which oversees the police force.
Regional mediator, former South African president Thabo Mbeki, facilitated four long days of talks between the political rivals in Harare last week.
After failing to break the impasse, they had agreed to turn to the South African Development Community’s security body - currently headed by Swaziland - to find a solution.
On the question of whether the Zimbabwe deal will ever be a success, Mswati said: “We still maintain the spirit that African problems can be solved by Africans.”
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=6167

Zim Talks Remain Deadlocked

GODFREY MARAWANYIKA HARARE, ZIMBABWE
- Oct 17 2008 10:21

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and rival Morgan Tsvangirai were set on Friday to resume power-sharing talks for a fourth day to end a spat on key Cabinet posts holding up a new unity government. After nearly eight hours of talks mediated by former South African leader Thabo Mbeki on Thursday, negotiations remained stalled over how to divide the most important ministries.Mugabe told reporters while leaving the negotiations that he hoped for a breakthrough on Friday."I would not want to call the delay dilly-dallying, but we have made a lot of compromises. Everyone has made some compromises and we hope that this will be all concluded tomorrow [Friday]," state media on Friday quoted him as saying.The parties had "some good discussions", the 84-year-old said in the state mouthpiece Herald newspaper.Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said there had been some advances "but not enough to seal the deal".Speaking to Agence France-Presse on Friday, Chamisa said the MDC would not shift on demands for an equitable share of ministries. Mugabe awarded key Cabinet posts to his ruling Zanu-PF last weekend in defiance of a power-sharing deal inked last month."We are very clear we are not going to compromise," he said. "There is no going back on fundamental issues, we will not play second fiddle to Zanu-PF."

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-10-17-zim-rivals-back-at-the-negotiating-table

Time To Do The Right Thing - Zimbabwe Civil Society

http://www.ipsnews.net
By Ephraim Nsingo
HARARE, Oct 17 (IPS)

- At least 5,000 people are expected to gather inChitungwiza today to demand improved access to water, sanitation and healthservices as part of the Stand Up, Take Action Against Poverty campaign.The event in this sprawling satellite town about 30 kilometres south ofHarare is under the auspices of the National Association of Non-GovernmentalOrganisations (NANGO), which brings together all humanitarian and civilsociety organisations registered in Zimbabwe.Because of the political polarisation in Zimbabwe, this year the Campaignhas chosen to reach out to the population through a seemingly neutralagenda -- environmental sustainability. Hundreds of schools and corporateorganisations have already been recruited to take part in tree plantingevents.This campaign, coordinated worldwide by the Global Coalition AgainstPoverty, has long been active in Zimbabwe. The results on the ground havehowever not been so encouraging. Poverty continues to ravage the southernAfrican nation, once referred to as the breadbasket of Africa. Close to halfof Zimbabwe's 12 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.Set to feature prominently in this year's activities is the water situation,which has deteriorated unabated in Harare and other major centres. Theever-worsening humanitarian conditions, the country's world-record inflationof 231 million percent, and the plight of orphaned and vulnerable childrenwill also be under the spotlight."Zimbabwe is no exception to the scandalous condition of poverty in anopulent world. At the event, we will stand in unity with the rest of theworld sending a message to our leaders that we can no longer tolerate theinjustice of poverty," said Fambai Ngirande, who is coordinating the StandUp and Take Action Against Poverty Campaign. He is also the advocacy andpublic policy manager for NANGO.

More on http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/oct17a_2008.html

Zimbabwe rivals to restart talks with progress in sight

HARARE (AFP) —

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his main rival Morgan Tsvangirai entered a third day of talks Thursday to break an impasse on disputed cabinet posts with hopes rising they could reach a deal.
Former South African leader Thabo Mbeki is presiding over discussions aimed at pressing Mugabe and Tsvangirai to settle their differences under a faltering power-sharing deal meant to rescue Zimbabwe from economic and political chaos.
"We made some progress. We finish tomorrow," Mugabe told reporters as he left the negotiations on Wednesday.
Tsvangirai said the talks had proceeded "quite circuitously," but his chief negotiator Tendai Biti insisted progress had been made in the seven hours of talks Wednesday.
"History is being made. Mountains are being moved. If we pray hard today something will happen tomorrow," Biti told reporters.
South African media citing unnamed sources reported Thursday that Tsvangirai had been awarded the finance ministry, a critical portfolio in a country grappling with the world's highest inflation rate, last estimated at 231 million percent.
This left in limbo the home affairs ministry which oversees the country's police forces -- accused by the opposition of being used by the ruling party to carry out human rights abuses.

More on http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5harB4ZbPf89IYfyJcPwgxfWXAUyw

Students demonstrate during opening of parliament

By Lance Guma
SW Radio Africa
14 October 2008

The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) on Tuesday held a demonstration during the opening of parliament in Harare. According to ZINASU coordinator Mfundo Mlilo, between 500 to 1000 students from tertiary colleges and universities around the country converged to hand in a petition detailing demands they want met by the new government. As expected the union President Clever Bere and ZINASU legal secretary were arrested. Gender Secretary Privilege Mutanga was also assaulted by police during the chaos that later ensued. The exact number of students and leaders arrested remained unclear at the time of broadcast. Mlilo confirmed they had received an SMS from Bere saying they were being held at Harare Central Police Station.
The protest attracted students from Harare, Masvingo, Bindura, Seke and Bulawayo colleges and seems to have taken police by surprise. The force dispatched a single truck with 10 riot police unaware the crowd along 4th Street was much bigger than anticipated. The students promptly chased this first batch of riot police away. Mlilo says the police then responded by dispatching another 3 truckloads to come and put down the demonstration. Although the protest was peaceful police assaulted some of their leaders and those in detention were complaining they were still being harassed and assaulted.
Several members of the public queuing for cash at CABS 4th Street branch are said to have joined the demonstration. The huge crowd was singing revolutionary songs as their marched towards parliament. Once near the building they sat down on the road and pavements while their leaders handed over a petition. It was soon after that the mayhem broke out. Police told union leaders they clamped down on the protesters because they had not been notified in advance of the demonstration.
Meanwhile parliamentary business itself was reduced to the same old bickering between ZANU PF and the MDC. The combined MDC, basking in the glory of a 110 seat majority, came up against ZANU PF’s minority of 99 seats for the first time in the country’s history. Traditionally the first session starts with a debate on the President’s address but the MDC resisted this. . A legislator told Newsreel they simply ended up ‘debating the propriety of debating the President’s speech, given outstanding issues of legitimacy and the fact the dialogue process was still pending a resolution.’
While ZANU PF MP’s praised Mugabe’s speech the MDC dismissed it as failing to address the country’s problems. Although there was some suggestion parliament will debate Constitutional Amendment 19, meant to legalize the power sharing accord signed last month, this never happened. The new post of Prime Minister and his two deputies have to be inserted into the constitution. Newsreel was told that because of the uncertainty surrounding the power sharing deal it was felt it would be premature to push the amendment through at this stage.

Kenya: - No Amnesty for Poll Violence Offenders

The Nation (Nairobi)
15 October 2008
Nairobi

The Commission into Post-Election Violence (Cipev) has recommended the setting up of an international tribunal to try post-election violence offenders.
In a report handed to President Kibaki on Wednesday at Harambee house by commission chairman Justice Philip Waki, Cipev implicates top politicians and the police in the violence.

President Kibaki has ordered the report to be released immediately.
Cipev was mandated to investigate the facts and circumstances related to the post-election violence and the actions or omissions of State security agencies and make recommendations.
The commission is said to have received shocking evidence of police brutality and indiscriminate shooting of ordinary Kenyans, sexual attacks and refusal to investigate crimes that were committed during the post-election mayhem.
It recommends major reform of the security agencies

No amnesty

The report also recommends there be no amnesty for people accused of serious crimes during the post-election violence. Instead, it proposes that a special international tribunal to prosecute suspects should formed within six months.
However, the report says it may be necessary to consider an offer of amnesty to some minor offenders in exchange for truthful confessions and assistance in the arrest and prosecution of the planners, organisers, funders and, in the case of security agencies, the perpetrators of the violence.
The report says immunity from possible prosecution and lack of accountability were responsible for the chaos and hat the language of "forgive and forget" will only help to breed more chaos in future.
It traces the history of election-linked violence since the advent of pluralism in 1991 and says the criminal gangs and their sponsors commit crimes in the knowledge that nothing will happen to them.
It says, for example, that the Kiliku and Akiwumi reports on the violence in the 1990s were trashed by the Moi Government thus emboldening the warriors in and around the Rift Valley and others that had sprung up elsewhere in the country.
Consequently, the Waki report says it is imperative to guard against further encouragement of the culture of impunity which would happen if blanket amnesty were granted to all and sundry.

Zimbabwe Generals’ Fears of Prosecution Threaten Deal

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/15/world/africa/15zimbabwe.html

By CELIA W. DUGGER
Published: October 14, 2008
JOHANNESBURG — Zimbabwe’s military commanders have pressed President Robert Mugabe to shield them from prosecution for the violent crackdown on his political foes this year, senior government officials say, and his response is threatening to derail a power-sharing deal that was supposed to halt the country’s dizzying downward economic spiral.

Mr. Mugabe’s efforts to placate his generals, as well as senior politicians in his party who are disgruntled about their loss of clout, culminated in his decision last week to unilaterally claim control of ministries that have been pivotal to his 28 years of unbroken political dominance and are seen as critical to protecting his senior generals from the risk of being charged with crimes.
More on http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/15/world/africa/15zimbabwe.html
Two journalists contributed reporting from Harare, Zimbabwe.

Mbeki Returns to Harare

Posted: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:11:00 +0200
http://www.newsnet.co.zw/index.php?nID=14051

Former South African President and SADC chief negotiator, Mr. Thabo Mbeki is expected in Harare tomorrow to try and resolve the power sharing impasse between president Robert Mugabe and the two MDC formation leaders.Former South African President and SADC chief negotiator, Mr. Thabo Mbeki is expected in Harare tomorrow to try and resolve the power sharing impasse between president Robert Mugabe and the two MDC formation leaders.Mr. Mbeki’s spokesperson, Mr. Mukoni Ratshitaga confirmed that the former South African president is heading to Zimbabwe where he seeks to bring the country’s negotiating parties together with the hope of unlocking the deadlock.President Robert Mugabe, Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai and Professor Arthur Mutambara met on Friday to try and unlock the impasse but referred the matter for further facilitation by Mr. Mbeki after another deadlock.The deadlock is attributed to disagreements over key ministries of Finance and Home Affairs.